Alaska’s Supreme Court says recent owners of a North Pole oil refinery share costs of cleaning up a contamination that has reached about 7 square miles of groundwater.
The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports the Friday ruling keeps onsite cleanup costs attached to Flint Hills while former refinery owner Williams Alaska Petroleum is responsible for the plume that spread offsite.
A nearby resident had sued Flint Hills over the contamination.
Flint Hills then filed a claim against former refinery owner Williams Alaska Petroleum.
Payments will be decided by the Superior Court.
A spill of the chemical sulfolane caused the contamination.
An attorney says Flint Hills has spent “tens of millions of dollars” so far on filtered water for residents and refinery cleanup.
Offsite cleanup has not started.
